That much is clear. His 40-second dismantling of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone made sure of it. Combine McGregor’s undeniable star power with a dominant performance against a perennial contender, such as Cerrone, and there’s no doubt that McGregor can pretty much choose whoever he wants to fight next at either 170 lbs. or 155 lbs.

Shortly after the Saturday night’s main event at UFC 246 ended, though, company president Dana White reiterated again and again at a post-fight press conference that McGregor’s next fight should be a rematch against lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

There’s an understandable logic to booking that fight. Yes, Nurmagomedov destroyed McGregor when they first met in late-2018 but everyone around both the Irishman and the UFC itself have worked hard this week to emphasize that McGregor is in a better place personally than he was at the time.

How would that affect the rematch itself? Well, White seems to believe plenty of people are going to be willing to pay to find out.

Is Nurmagomedov really the best option, though? McGregor didn’t explicitly call for that fight after he steamrolled Cerrone. There are at least four other intriguing options — and one, in particular, that stands out above the rest.

If McGregor is back and focused, there are really no bad options for the UFC. You could book him to fight a donkey and millions of fans are still going to fork over their hard-earned money to watch.

But let’s take a look at the potential fights McGregor has available to him and then consider a few other takeaways from Saturday night in Las Vegas.

1. THE BEST OPTION

McGregor got the biggest pop from the crowd at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night but Jorge Masvidal was a close second.

While McGregor was away from the octagon in 2019, Masvidal emerged as the UFC’s second-biggest star with highlight-reel knockouts of Darren Till and Ben Askren, and then a nice win over Nate Diaz.

With McGregor beating Cerrone at 170 lbs. last night, he has proven he has power at welterweight, the weight class where Masvidal competes.

It’s so rare that the stars align like this in the fight game. Two huge stars with mainstream crossover appeal just happen to be competing at the same weight class? How do you not make that fight? Well, White wants McGregor to fight Nurmagomedov and was clear about wanting to match Masvidal up with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Those are both really great matchups that we’ve got no right to complain about.

It’s just hard not to get excited about the possibility of a Masvidal-McGregor fight. They’re both brilliant strikers, they’re both incredibly charismatic and they are both on incredible hot streaks. If it doesn’t happen next, everyone should be crossing their fingers that it happens soon.

2. RUN IT BACK

The first time McGregor and Nurmagomedov fought, it set UFC pay-per-view records. When that happens, any promoter would be stupid not to try and run it back, regardless of the result of the first fight.

There’s an organic, built-in rivalry between the two fighters and their camps and potentially a more-focused, devoted-to-training McGregor could do better a second time around.

At the same time, Nurmagomedov absolutely dominated their first meeting. It wasn’t even close. Getting another win or two under McGregor’s belt might make it more convincing that he actually stands a chance in the rematch.

There are a couple other obstacles standing in the way, too, most notably the fact that Nurmagomedov has an extremely difficult title defence against Tony Ferguson booked for April.

The Dagestani also has been extremely resistant to the idea of giving McGregor a rematch. Getting him to sign on the dotted line may be harder than White expects.

This is probably the most likely booking, but that doesn’t mean it’s a slam dunk that we see it in 2020.

3. GET A THIRD

When McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez and became the first fighter to ever hold championship belts in two different weight classes at the same time, it was an unheard-of accomplishment.

Now, it seems like every time a champion wins their first belt, they’re automatically angling for a second. Even a guy like Jon Jones — the greatest MMA fighter ever — seems to understand that he has got to go win a title in another division to secure his legacy.

McGregor’s now got a chance to add the welterweight championship belt to his collection. He’s already won at featherweight and lightweight.

To do that, he’d have to beat Kamaru Usman. That’s an incredibly difficult fight, but what an accomplishment it would be.

Usman’s got some serious promotional heat attached to his name after his TKO of Colby Covington last month. But any promotion of a fight between McGregor and the welterweight champion would inevitably focus on how unprecedented it would be for McGregor to even take on the challenge.

This booking seems a little unlikely but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

4. COMPLETE THE TRILOGY

McGregor fought Nate Diaz twice in 2016, losing the first time and winning the second. Those fights helped propel the UFC to new heights and established both men as bona-fide stars.

At the time, a third matchup seemed inevitable.

Now, though, it seems like something we can put it to the side. It’s probably going to happen someday, just not right now.

Diaz is coming off a disappointing loss to Masvidal in November and it’s not as if his star has faded but there are just a couple more interesting options for McGregor at the moment.

There are a few other options, too. Justin Gaethje is deserving of a big fight and a matchup between him and McGregor would probably be incredible. It’s not going to happen, though. If Ferguson beats Nurmagomedov, that’s a possibility, too.

5. JUST BOX

As soon as McGregor was done with Cerrone, Floyd Mayweather put a fake poster up on his Instagram promoting a rematch of his 2017 boxing match with the Irishman.

And look, most people backstage at the T-Mobile Arena rolled their eyes. I’m not sure there are that many people who really care to see a rematch between the two.

With that being said, give Mayweather and McGregor a couple months to get the promotion of a rematch going and we all know a lot of people are going to tune in.

There’s also been talk of a match between McGregor and Manny Pacquiao, and White has been openly talking about partnering with Mayweather in 2020 for some boxing, too.

It’s entirely possible that none of this happens and it’s entirely possible that fans will initially react with complete disinterest. But we at least need to acknowledge that this is a lucrative direction that White, McGregor and Mayweather may all want to explore.

6. DID IT RIGHT

From the beginning of fight week until the very end, McGregor presented himself differently than he has in the past.

He was respectful of Cerrone both before and after the fight and generally avoided seriously trash-talking any of his potential opponents.

McGregor has had some legal issues — some of them still under investigation — over the past couple years and his image has taken a hit. There was definitely a smaller contingent of Irish fans who travelled to Las Vegas for this weekend’s fight than there have been in years past.

So it only makes sense that McGregor came in and acted a little more humble and grateful for the opportunities the fight game has provided him. He’s simply more likeable when he isn’t insulting everybody within earshot.

His behaviour over the past couple years may have forced his hand but McGregor did things right this week.

7. WHAT NEXT FOR COWBOY?

Cerrone got finished in 40 seconds and didn’t land a single punch, so it’s unlikely that there are going to be a ton of new fans who tuned in on Saturday night and left thinking “I’m never going to miss another Cowboy fight.”

The fight went badly for Cerrone and, at 36 years old, it’s hard to see him bouncing back and making a run at any championship belts.

But he’ll walk away from Saturday with a nice payday and he holds the UFC’s records for most wins, most finishes and most post-fight bonuses. Let’s be real, the guy is going to be OK.

At this point in his career, the best thing might be to match him up with other veterans on smaller cards that need headliners.

8. GET IT DONE

We doubt many people are going to go back and re-watch Holly Holm’s win over Raquel Pennington. It really wasn’t all that memorable, as Holm largely held Pennington against the cage for the first two rounds.

Holm needed a win after getting knocked out by Amanda Nunes last summer and she did enough to get it. She shouldn’t be criticized too badly for fighting smart and safe, even if the crowd let her know what they felt with a healthy serving of boos.

After the fight, White reserved his criticism for referee Jason Herzog, who allowed the two fighters to remain locked up on the cage, instead of separating them and forcing them to re-engage in the centre of the octagon.

“If you are not doing damage or advancing your position, you split the fighters up and make them actually fight,” White said. “I like (Herzog), I don’t want to bum this guy out, but he’s running around the octagon and I’m like ‘What f—ing fight is he watching?’“

It’s hard not to see White’s point, and it really is too bad that Saturday night’s co-main event didn’t live up to expectations. That doesn’t do much to damage Holm’s standing in the UFC, though.

9. ON THE WAY UP

It can be tempting to call Diego Ferreira an up-and-comer. He’s 35 years old, though, so that’s not exactly true.

On Saturday, though, Ferreira was really, really impressive. He did exactly what he needed to do against former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and secured a fight-ending rear-naked choke early in the second round.

Ferreira has now won six fights in a row and should probably be ranked somewhere in the top-15. He smartly called for an opponent in that range after beating Pettis, and admitted he wasn’t thinking about a title shot or anything like that.

Along with Sodiq Yusuff, who beat Andre Fili on the preliminary portion of Saturday’s show, Ferreira was the man who most took advantage of the massive platform that fighting on a McGregor card provided.

10. THE REAL DEAL

Make no mistake, Saturday night was an absolute blockbuster for the UFC.

The fights brought drew an announced attendance of 19,040 and a live gate of US$11,089,129.30. That’s the second-highest attendance number for a UFC fight ever held in Las Vegas.

Remember, this was a card headlined by a fight with no title belt on the line and there was little star power outside of the main event.

So it was a huge night for the UFC and it was almost entirely because of McGregor. There’s no doubting what he means financially to the company.

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